Always: A Castle Folktale
by Mestrey
Summary: AU fic. What came out of a folktale assignment for fiction writing class. Prince Richard and Prince Josh are competitors for Princess Kate's heart and the crown. Read to find out the moral of the story.


Author's Note: This may be my first time posting to but this is in no way my first fic. I'm been writing them for about 5 or more years now, on and off. Usually RPF. This is my first one-shot though. I wrote this for my fiction writing class when told to write a folktale. The original has different names so that my teacher wouldn't know that it was a fan fic. It also doesn't have the HP reference at the end. But I disgress. I hope you guys, my friends for the longest no matter the fandom, will enjoy this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or any of the characters. I wish I did. Hopefully God will answer my prayers and get me a spot on it, but even then I won't own it!

Always

Long time ago in a strange land, there lived a king and his daughter. Now this King James was getting very old and needed to find a successor. Since he only had a daughter, Princess Kate, he needed to find her a husband. So he sent messengers to every kingdom to inform them.

After seeing a lot of suitors, there were two left and King James couldn't decide which was best. So he set a contest where his daughter would decide her fate. The contest would be for three days. Every day they would bring her a gift and at the end, the prince with the best gifts would win Princess Kate's hand in marriage. This would prove which of the two would make his daughter happy as well as being a great king.

On the first day they congregated in the castle's throne room. Prince Josh went first with his gift.

"Oh most beautiful princess, I bring a gemstone. One that is as rare and beautiful as you," Prince John presented with a sly smile. He was overconfident.

"Thank you, Prince John," Princess Kate replied.

Next came the poorer prince, Prince Richard. He could not afford rare gemstones. He felt almost ashamed coming after Prince Josh. When he came up, he refused to make eye contact and instead stared at the ground.

"Princess," he said shakily, "I bring you a basket of apples and cherries to remind you of the sweet and sour sides of life." He looked up hopefully and found her smiling.

"Thank you, Prince Nicholas," Princess Kate replied.

"Always."

With that, they finished to return the next day.

The following day, it went much the same. They were gathered in the castle's throne room. The rich prince, Prince Josh, went first again.

"Oh most beautiful princess, today I have commissioned a portrait to be done of you so that your beauty may last forever," he said in the same cocky tone.

"Thank you, Prince John," Princess Kate replied.

Prince Richard wished he was as rich. The princess deserved all those gifts and more. She deserved a man who could give her those things. He knew he would lose. But he still went up with his gift, yet looked at the ground.

"Princess, I bring you this royal dog to remind you that you are never alone in this world," He presented. He looked up to find her smiling again.

"Thank you, Prince Richard," the princess replied.

"Always."

With that, they finished to return the next day.

Later that day, Princess Kate went back to the throne room to play with the dog. She had decided that since Prince Richard had called him a royal dog, the dog's name was to be Royal.

"Hello, Royal."

"Hello, Princess." a mysterious voice replied. She did not recognize the voice. Princess Kate got up and looked around.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Princess Kate said as she scanned the room for something to defend herself with if this person meant to harm her.

"It is I, Royal the dog," the voice responded. Princess Kate turned to Royal.

"You can speak?" she asked.

"Of course I can speak. Now, about your suitors. Do you know that Prince Josh is only doing this for the crown? He does not care for you in the slightest."

"He looks like it. What about Prince Richard?"

"He's a humble lad who just wants to make you happy. He's terribly distraught that you are so taken with Prince Josh, that you pay him no notice at all."

"Well, he need not worry about that. I would not want to look back on life and wonder if only. Thank you, Royal."

"Anytime, Princess."

The third day went much the same as the first two except for the fact that both princes appeared to be empty handed. They were in the castle's throne room and Prince Josh was the one to go first.

"Oh most beautiful princess, if you allow me to be your king, I promise you will have everything your heart desires. You shall never want for things," Prince Josh said, with an arrogant look on his face.

"Thank you, Prince Josh," Princess Kate replied, as she has the past two days.

Prince Richard was again nervous. She deserved everything her heart desired. She could still choose him though, and that's what gave him the courage to go up and talk to her face and not the floor.

"Princess, I may not be rich. I may not be able to give you expensive gemstones, portraits, or anything else. But I can promise you always. To always be there when you need me. To always love you. To always do everything I can in my power to make you happy. Always." The princess was smiling.

"Thank you, Prince Richard," Princess Kate replied.

"Always."

"I have made my decision," announced the princess. "I choose Prince Richard because I want of love, not luxury. Always." She smiled and looked into Richard's eyes. They were lost in their own world until they were interrupted by the sound of a sword coming out of it's sheath.

Prince Josh had taken his sword out and was marching toward the princess, with obvious intent to kill. Prince Richard took out his sword as to defend his bride to be. Swords clashed.

"That crown is mine! I bought it fair and square," Prince Josh exclaimed.

"Well, you can't buy love. And love was the way to this crown," Prince Richard replied. With that, he knocked the sword out of Prince Josh's hand and put his own sword to the prince's throat. "Now leave. Never come back. Once I'm king I'll make sure you are banned from this kingdom. Now be gone!"

Prince Josh wanted to protest but with Prince Richard's sword at his throat and Princess Kate pointing his own dropped sword at him, he really didn't have a choice. He left saying "Wait until my father hears about this!"

Prince Richard and Princess Kate laughed at this as he left and they lived happily ever after. Always.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed that! Leave me goodies in the Review box please!


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